Searching Jenin: Eyewitness Accounts of the Israeli Invasion

since the Israeli army invaded the refugee camp in Jenin, destroyed its houses, killed many of its inhabitants and committed one of the worst war crimes in this present Intifada, Intifada al-Aqsa. With a successful campaign of distortion and manipulation of evidence, the Israeli foreign ministry, with the help of the United States, succeeded in hiding from the world the horrors of Jenin, and even worse, in intimidating anyone daring to tell the truth about what had happened there. This is the great significance and enormous importance of this book. "Searching Jenin" is the first systematic account, through eyewitness reports, on the events in April 2002. Two other books appeared in Arabic, but this is the first one in English. It puts the events in context and it highlights the true nature of the crime, while not falling into the pitfall laid by the Israelis who succeeded in drawing the UN inquiry commission into supposedly academic discussion of how to describe a massacre. As comes out vividly from this book, Jenin was not just a massacre, it was an inhuman act of unimaginable barbarism. Noam Chomsky, in his introduction to the book, puts it in the context of crimes sponsored by America and he is someone who recorded meticulously these crimes in the past. Ramzy Baroud, in his preface, notes rightly that the book will not answer the question of how many people were killed, nor will it cover every aspect of the crime. But it does convey the message, as one of the witnesses put it that, 'what I haveseen are crimes; sometimes greater than an earthquake'. And this is not just an impression, as this book makes it all too clear: every aspect of the Israeli actions in Jenin can easily be identified as war crimes, according to the Hague convention. Testimonies like the ones presented do not only help to shed light on many of the chapters hidden by the Israeli screening and news' manipulation, it also brings forcefully the emotions, sounds and smells of the catastrophe. The pain is still there in those telling the stories. The book conveys the lingering agony through the italic interventions of the editors. Through them, we learn that while witnesses recall the horror of April 2002, like Hussein Hammad, they have to stop several times - sometimes to repose and occasionally to weep, before able to resume, like Hammad does, their stories. Sometimes the testimonies, at first glance, seem not to tell enough - as if the survivors wish to repress the horror rather then tell it in full. But the economy of words reveals quite often, even more about what had happened. Rafidia al-Jamal is very laconic in a way, in her testimony, but the full extent of the atrocity comes out in a very short sentence she utters. This is the case when she describes how she prevented desperately her husband - who had saved her life a moment earlier - from searching after his sister. "Don't go" I told him, "She is Dead". And then she reports dryly: 'my children have nightmares'. Ot

What the Palestinians endure is shocking. From a wide range of observers, this book documents (as best as can be expected given the circumstances) war crimes by the IDF and what can only be called state sponsored terrorism by Israel. Ramzy Baroud deserves credit for his work.

Finaly a book that teels the truth. It teels how Israeli solidiers massacred Palestinians. It's a must read for everyone who wants to know the truth.

This book is undoubtedly a must reading for anyone interested not only in the history of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict but also specifically in what really happened in Jenin last year during the Israeli invasion of this martyred palestinian city by Sharon's army with its heavy tanks, missiles, Apache helicopters, bulldozers."Searching Jenin," an authoritative book which includes first hand testimonies from Palestinian victims and their relatives is the result of a collective effort of nearly 60 scholars, reporters, and activists, Palestinians, Israelis and Internationals, is edited by Ramzy Baroud, editor-in-chief of PalestineChronicle.com. The book includes a Forward by Noam Chomsky an honourable observer and critic of the pro-Israeli bias of US Middle East policy which has constituted a major obstacle to a peaceful solution of the conflict.Many of the reporters commissioned for the book put their safety, and in some cases, their lives on the line to collect account after tragic account for this book. Because of their integrity and professionalism, they were able to interview many high profile figures that refused being interviewed by any other news agency." Not only does the book include scores of telling accounts of residents who witnessed and survived the invasion, but it includes interviews with people such as the wife and the mother of Mahmud Tawalbe, the leader of the resistance in Jenin. Tawalbe was shot and killed by Israeli forces. The book also includes a detailed interview with the only eyewitness to the extra-judicial execution of Abu Jandal, the second in command of the Palestinian resistance in Jenin. The courageous reporters who combed the streets of Jenin, interviewed medical personnel, resistance fighters, and even children, including an 8 year old girl named Rund, who complained that the army broke her only doll. Rund's father was later shot and killed by the army. They also interviewed an elderly widow who explained how she implored Israeli forces as they demolished her small home, burying her disabled son alive under the rubble. Her son's body was never recovered.

This is an excellent book which brings together some fresh thinking and reporting on a controversial subject matter. The massacre at Jenin has become the pawn of those playing politics, but this book tries to bring the reader back to the need to find the truth and to explore all aspects.Ramzy Baroud is a well known columnist whose writings have explored many subjects that are often considered taboo by the mainstream "embedded" American media -- imagine the new ways that term will be used. I found the collection of essays to be a fascinating read that challenges the perceptions about what the Israeli military really did in Jenin and forces the reader to ask hard questions about the bigger picture of brutality and unfairness.The goal is truth, not a political view. Ramzy Baroud's book helps to refocus the reader toward that goal and away from the partisan politics that plagues much of the writing that exists in other books.Thanls Ray Hananiawww.hanania.com